The present invention relates to a novel lighting fixture which is particularly useful for employing compact fluorescent lamps.
Downlights are widely used to uniformly distribute light on a surface. In the past, incandescent "A-lamp" downlights were employed as the preferred system for downlighting applications, because such fixtures exhibited excellent brightness control and uniform distribution. The basic construction and "A-lamp" downlight includes a round incandescent lamp enclosed by a symmetrical circular appearing reflector.
Recent concerns with the cost of operating incandescent lamps has motivated the substitution of fluorescent lamps for incandescent lamps in downlight applications. Such fluorescent lamps are referred to as "PL" or "CFL" types. Compact fluorescent lamps are found in various configurations and wattages. For example, twin, quad, triple, and the like configurations are used in these lamps. Unlike round incandescent lamps, compact fluorescent lamps are, by nature, asymmetrical, especially when compact fluorescent lamps are positioned horizontally within the lighting fixture. Lighting fixtures utilizing compact fluorescent lamps, in the past, have encountered many problems. For example, "visual noise", such as striations, hot spots, distorted images, and the like, have been generated by horizontally positioned compact fluorescent lamps in downlights. In addition, the actual viewing of the horizontally positioned compact fluorescent lamp by an observer below the fixture creates a unfavorable aesthetic image. Moreover, glare from the reflector systems used with such fluorescent lamps is also pervasive in fluorescent downlight fixtures presently available. Although such problems have existed, there has been no alternative solution but to use fluorescent lamps in place of incandescent lamps in downlights, and to tolerate the many problems which have been delineated above.
Reference is made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,519,019, 5,045,982, and 5,515,255 which show reflector systems for ceiling lights which are generally of the incandescent type. Reflectors described in these patents are generally curved and lie above the lamp.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,479 shows a dual reflector system in which an incandescent lamp is used. One reflector is formed within the other reflector in this construction.
A lighting fixture utilizing a fluorescent light source that possesses many of the characteristics of an incandescent downlight would be a notable advance in the lighting field.